I believe you can tell a lot about a person by knowing who their friends are. I was recently told by a friend about a fundraiser for Metro Council District 4 Candidate Brady Banks that I found interesting.
In Metro Council elections, many candidates make general statements about supporting fiscal responsibility and supporting good schools and favoring adequate police protection that you really don't know much about how the candidate will legislate if he is elected. In many cases, the campaigns are so short on specifics that you must have some other basis for making a decision. One good measure of a candidate is to look at who is supporting him.
It is common knowledge that Mr. Banks is a former community organizer for Mayor Dean and has no business experience. He has spend his career in politics including a stint as a paid campaign worker for Presidential candidate John Edwards in the New Hampshire primary and a period on the campaign of a Democrat seeking a state Senate seat in west Tennessee. His website is very generic with vague positions on the issues.
I don't know Mr. Banks personally but I've heard he's very liberal and he describes himself as a "progressive." I do know that in 2007 when he ran for an at-large position he had the enforcement of the left-wing, low-power radio station Liberadio (!).
On the issue of taxes, Banks told the Tennessean he'd consider raising taxes to maintain or expand government services, which in my view is reason enough not to vote for him. I think the Nashville's tax rate is high enough already and we should look at more efficient government rather than raising taxes. I do know that Dave Patterson has taken a stance adamantly opposing raising taxes.
After doing some investigating, I confirmed who the host committee members were for the Banks fundraiser and was not surprised to find they are a who's who of elected liberals:
I then looked at who supports Dave Patterson's campaign and found it to be leading conservatives. These are the people who were on the host committee of a recent Dave Patterson fund raiser:
- Councilmember At-Large Megan Barry
- Councilmember At-Large Jerry Maynard
- Councilmember Greg & Kim Adkins
- Councilmember Jason & Margaret Holleman
- Councilmember Mike Jameson
- Councilmember Sean McGuire
- |Councilmember Bo Mitchell
- Councilmember Anna Page
- Councilmember elect Fabian Bedne
- Lt. Governor Ron Ramsey
- Speaker Beth Harwell
- Senator Jack Johnson
- Senator Jim Tracy
- Rep Jim Gotto
- Councilman Karen Bennett
- Councilman Jim Hodge
- Councilman Eric Crafton
The conclusion I reach is that this election is about Liberalism vs. Conservatism, low taxes vs. high taxes, and fiscal responsibility vs. excessive spending. Nashville has crushing debt and out of control spending. The question to the voters of the 4th District is: do you want our city to become the next Detroit or do we elect Conservatives who have the real world experience to reverse course and put our city on firm financial ground?
My wife and I were also on the host committee for Dave's fundraiser. I know Dave personally and know he is a man of principle and integrity and conservative values.
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